Today’s article is a guest post from my good friend Mark Weins from Migrationology.com, who traveled around the world and was a nomad without a home for more than 52 consecutive weeks.
Mount Bromo, Indonesia
How to Be a Serial Couchsurfer
I was in South America in 2008 when I first heard about this genius idea of making a connection through a website called Couchsurfing.com and sleeping on a random couch for free. It’s pretty simple, make a profile, search for a place to stay, contact that person with a message, and finally stay with that person. I excitedly joined the website but my endeavor was faded for almost 4 months as I got discouraged by lack of replies and a rapid traveling schedule that made it next to impossible to make online contacts.
When I arrived in South East Asia in March of 2009, I was determined to give Couchsurfing another shot with a full intent of making it truly happen this time. About 30 minutes of couch searching and I had politely contacted 3 or 4 decent looking profiles to find a place to crash. I was encouraged when I received a number of replies, and soon I found myself hanging out with unbelief at an awesome condo in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, overlooking the Petronas Towers. With a flexible attitude and a friendly nature, my host graciously allowed me to stay for a few weeks before flying to Indonesia.
Indonesia is where I truly became excited about Couchsurfing and realized the unparalleled opportunities and benefits that can result. In Jogjakarta, Indonesia, I was greeted by a crew of local Couchsurfers eager to meet and show me around. For a week straight I lived with a local family, was passenger on the back of a motorcycle zipping from place to place, ate delicacies that few have dared to eat, caught fish from the pond for dinner, saw ancient, unheard of temples, trekked through an abandoned cave in the middle of nowhere, and checked out a swarm of other “unknown” attractions. These new friends were equally excited to practice their English and ask me questions about the world outside of Indonesia and what I thought of their country. I was happy to speak with them, answer their questions, and simply tag along to see their daily lives.
An ancient temple in Indonesia
My Couchsurfing spree continued for nearly six months, staying in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Thailand. At each location I was not only blessed with a free and secure place to sleep, but also priceless local and cultural experiences. I was treated to favorite local hole-in-the-wall eateries and directed to impossible-to-find locations. In the Philippines I Couchsurfed in an area of Manila known as Novaliches, far away from any popular tourist attraction, but submersed in the real Manila. I could go to Filipino markets, watch cockfights in the neighborhood streets, take free cooking lessons from local mothers, and talk to interesting strangers.
A volcano in the Philippines
Tips to Be a Serial Couchsurfer:
- Don’t be afraid to make contacts: The bottom line is that nothing will happen if you don’t jump at the chance to contact other Couchsurfers, so take the first step!
- Give the host a good 2 weeks notice or so: Not only are you more likely to get a granted request, it’s courteous for everyone.
- Try to contact locals: Staying with or meeting locals is truly an enriching way to travel, and the best way to find those off-the-beaten-trail things to do!
- Be friendly: This is simple but important, if you are friendly and get along well with anyone, you just might be invited to stay with someone for a more extended period of time.
- Be accommodating and flexible: Remember that you are the guest, be grateful for an awesome place to stay no matter what the condition.
- Work around your host’s personality: If your host wants to hang out as much as possible, that’s great, if your host lives a pretty independent life and wants you too as well, that’s okay too.
- Show respect to everything: A lot of Indonesians don’t drink. In cases like this, try to adapt to your host and live like they do.
- Have a backup plan: Before you travel, quickly research a guest house or hostel in case you have a problem contacting your host and absolutely need a place to sleep.
What started as a way to save money, led me towards amazing contacts, friendships, cultural learning experiences, prized restaurants, and local establishments that I never would have known existed. These meaningful relationships and rewarding Couchsurfing times have far outweighed the free accommodation. Though I broke my spree, Couchsurfing is still the first place I look when traveling to a new country looking for an amusing adventure!
See if Couchsurfing works out for you, you just might be the next serial couchsurfer!
Mark Wiens is a world wanderer, a durian smuggler, a culture crosser, a spicy food connoisseur, and a buffet finisher. On his blog, Migrationology, he serves spontaneous observations from an unplanned migration of adventurous world travel revolving around food and unique opportunities! You can also follow him on Twitter at @migrationology or Facebook.
We didn’t use couchsurfing for the first couple years of our journey because we never knew our schedule (i.e., it changed constantly). Recently in South America we had a few occasions to try it out when we did have a set schedule (i.e., we could contact people in advance) and it was fantastic. Our visit to Montevideo, Uruguay would have been boring if we hadn’t stayed with the awesome couple we stayed with. Same goes with our visit to Neuquen in Argentina.
Your advice about not being afraid to contact people is spot on. If they don’t want to host you, don’t take offense. But, if a person does respond, that usually means that he/she is very excited to host you and the experience is usually great.
Like you, Audrey and Dan I was a member for awhile before I actually made it happen, largely for the same reason of an unknown schedule or something as simple as not having a mobile phone. Making the Couchsurfing connection isn’t as easy as you might think and takes a bit of effort but once you make it happen for the first time you’ll wonder what took you so long.
Couchsurfing wasn’t really in when I was traveling around the world. And after reading this post I am extremely disappointed. The experiences you have had couchsurfing in South East Asia are priceless. My husband and I taught English in Bangkok and so had somewhat similar experiences with our students and colleagues, hanging out with us and helping us to experience local life. There is nothing better than traveling in this way.
You’ve shared some great tips Mark. I’m looking forward to checking this out more. I just hope you can couchsurf with kids!!
I know Baker from Man vs Debt used Couchsurfing quite a bit on his travels through Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand, with wife & baby! It’s possible.
Couchsurfing is great. I haven’t honestly surfed much myself yet, but we’ve had some great times with people Mark has met through CS (like our new friend Agnes in Kuala Lumpur, who showed us all around Melaka… then later came to visit in Thailand), and Bangkok has a huge, tight-knit CS community who frequently hold fun meetup events, and tend to look out for one another quite well…
Couchsurfing is the BEST!!!!! It has completely changed my life, and I can see it has changed yours as well.
Thanks, Mark- glad to see you spreading the word about CouchSurfing! I’m a huge fan and often contact CS’ers in a particular area I’m traveling to, EVEN if I already have accommodations lined up. Like you mentioned, getting to know locals is a fantastic way to get to experience what a place is really about!
Wow. Amazed by what technology has offered us now and then. All hail to Couchsurfing.com. A brilliant and innovative idea.
Thanks.
You are quite encouraging. I have been procrastinating and somewhat weary of doing some couch surfing, it always helps push me when I hear of others great experiences with it.
The tips help as well! Kudos dude!